Kathmandu. Nepal\u2019s president has dissolved Parliament at the request of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli\u2019s cabinet and announced that general elections would be held in April and May, more than a year ahead of schedule.<\/p>\n
Sunday\u2019s move plunges the Himalayan country, which has seen revolving-door governance since street protests restored multi-party democracy in 1990, into political turmoil as it battles the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n
President Bidhya Devi Bhandari\u2019s office said in a statement the next vote will be held on April 30 and May 10, as recommended by the cabinet following an emergency meeting.<\/p>\n
Oli, 68, pushed for a fresh mandate after the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) accused him of sidelining his party in government decisions and appointments. He had led an alliance with former Maoist rebels to a landslide victory in 2017.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe prime minister has lost the majority in the parliamentary party, central committee and the secretariat of the party,\u201d said Bishnu Rijal, an NCP central committee member.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead of seeking a compromise within the party, he chose to dissolve Parliament.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sandwiched between China and India, politics in Nepal is also influenced by the priorities of its giant neighbours. India has been pushing back against Beijing\u2019s growing clout in a country that New Delhi considers its own back yard.<\/p>\n
Oli aide Rajan Bhattarai said the prime minister had acted in response to the backlash from his party, which had also asked him to consider quitting as its president.<\/p>\n
Politicians and social media users said the ruling party should have tried out other political combinations to run the country instead of calling an untimely election when its tourism-dependent economy has been battered by the pandemic.<\/p>\n
Nepal\u2019s 2015 charter does not give the prime minister the prerogative to dissolve Parliament without exhausting alternatives, constitutional expert Bipin Adhikari said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is unconstitutional at the first sight,\u201d he said, adding that the decision could be challenged in the Supreme Court, which may take a couple of weeks to decide its legality.<\/p>\n
Dozens of protesters gathered near the prime minister\u2019s office, calling the move unconstitutional.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kathmandu. Nepal\u2019s president has dissolved Parliament at the request of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli\u2019s cabinet and announced that general elections would be held in April and May, more than a year ahead of schedule. Sunday\u2019s move plunges the Himalayan country, which has seen revolving-door governance since street protests restored multi-party democracy in 1990, into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1985,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news"],"yoast_head":"\n